Difficulties in Dealing with Knockoffs

Mr Le The Bao, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Anti-counterfeiting and Trademark Protection (VATAP), said up to 31 sectors are being counterfeited. Faked goods are even sold openly at commercial centres and border markets. And, even the anti-counterfeiting stamp, a tool for businesses to protect their brands, is also being counterfeited. According to statistics, up to 60 per cent of wine import stamps are fake or recycled. In many wholesale markets, meat traders use fake seals to mark veterinary quarantine stamps and this confuses consumers.

 

According to statistics, 70 per cent of counterfeits are made by foreigners and imported into Vietnam in the form of components needed for production, thus making it hard for authorities to detect. Some companies reportedly supply 90 per cent of imported counterfeited goods, which are so similar to genuine ones that only the manufacturers can distinguish them.

 

Mr Nguyen Trong Tin, Deputy Director of the Market Management Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that in 2015 market watchdogs examined 38,000 cases, discovered over 25,000 violations and fined VND68 billion on a total violation value of VND536 billion.

 

Since Steering Committee 389 intensified cigarette smuggling, tax revenue from this item increased by VND1,500 billion and cigarette manufacturers reported significant sales growth.

 

Despite achieving important results, the prevention and handling of counterfeits and knockoffs are generally below requirements. Do Thang Hai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, cited several reasons for this reality. Firstly, legal documents are incomplete and overlapping. Many documents lack practical regulations and sanctions are not enough to act as preventive measures.

 

The second reason comes from the coordination of relevant forces. In recent years, despite efforts from concerned parties, their cooperation is still weak and in need of further efforts to be better. Without the close cooperation of relevant units, new regulations will be hardly effective.

 

Besides, the involvement of local authorities is still weak, even in border areas. The roles of businesses and business associations as well in the fight against counterfeits, piracies or knockoffs are not high.

 

Mr Hoang Van Truc, Deputy Director of Economic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security, said that one out of seven cases handled by the police is prosecuted, while the six others are administratively fined by competent bodies. In fact, counterfeiting criminals have reached every corner and use very sophisticated tricks. Meanwhile, many legal documents concerning this issue are overlapping.

 

Companies with their products counterfeited and copied hesitate to admit having products counterfeited or copied for fear of losing customers. Therefore, Deputy Minister Hai called on companies to cooperate with relevant authorities to combat counterfeits, knockoffs and acts of violating intellectual property rights, and required them to invest and arrange personnel to fight against counterfeits and acts of violating intellectual property rights.